None of the
criticisms about FEMA Director Brown or of the slow and erratic FEMA
response/organization should in any way degrade the managers and workers down
the line who have done their jobs. No one is saying First Responders have not
performed beyond the call of duty and heroically, especially the Coast Guard
which was on the scene quickly.
But as
everyone knows by know, FEMA director Michael Brown was a college roommate of
the former director, Joe Allbaugh, who earned his appointment because he had been
Gov. George Bush’s campaign manager. As Allbaugh departed for more lucrative
pastures shepherding private firms to gov’t contracts in Iraq, he recommended
his unemployed friend to replace him. So Brown’s best qualification was that he
was a personal friend of the director. But the worst of it is, he was
appointed!
Cronyism runs
deep in this administration, more so than most of us remember in our lifetimes,
and this time it has been costly, in lives lost and resources squandered. Under Bush/Cheney, governance has been
used as a pyramid reward system.
It’s created a brain drain not seen since the Reagan scandals of agency
turnovers. The Buck stops where?
kwc
Brown, More Unqualified Than You Thought
Astoundingly, FEMA Director Michael Brown is even more unqualified for his job
than previously believed. The reason: he's been lying on his resume. A
2001 White House press release states that "from 1975 to 1978, Brown
worked for the City of Edmond, Oklahoma, overseeing the emergency services divisions."
Brown's official government biography says he served "as an assistant city manager with emergency services oversight."
Time Magazine contacted Claudia Deakins, head of public relations for the city
of Edmond and got the real story. Deakins revealed that Brown "was an
'assistant to the city manager' from 1977 to 1980, not a manager himself, and
had no authority over other employees. 'The assistant is more like an intern,'
she told TIME. 'Department heads did not report to him.'" It's just one of
several fabrications Brown has made about his professional experience.
Brown Falsely Claims He Was Named
"Outstanding Professor": In a profile on Findlaw.com,
Brown claims he was named "Outstanding Political Science Professor,
Central State University." Charles Johnson, a member of the
university's public relations office, said Brown "wasn't a professor here, he was only a
student here." (Johnson added, "'He may have been an
adjunct instructor' ... but that title is very different from that of
'professor.'") Johnson said the chair of the Political Science Department
at CSU was not aware of the "Outstanding Political Science Professor"
award.
Brown Falsely Claims He's A Director At A
Nursing Home: On his Findlaw.com profile, Brown "states that
from 1983 to the present he has been director of the Oklahoma Christian Home, a
nursing home in Edmond." An administrator at the home told Time that Brown
is "not a person that anyone here is familiar with." The nursing home
doesn't have a board of directors anymore and when it did, no one remembers
Brown being on it. According to a veteran employee Brown "was never director here, was never on the
board of directors, was never executive director. He was never here
in any capacity. I never heard his name mentioned here."
Brown's Conduct May Jeopardize His Law
License: Brown is a member of the Oklahoma State Bar. According to
the "Oklahoma Rules of Professional Conduct," conduct involving
"dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation" is a violation
constituting "professional misconduct."
Oklahoma state law specifies that "any lawyer violating these Rules of
Professional Conduct shall be subject to discipline."
Discipline includes "disbarment, suspension of a respondent from
the practice of law for a definite term ... public censure or
private reprimand." Note to other members of the Oklahoma State Bar:
According to Rule 8.3 of the Oklahoma Rules of Professional Conduct, "A
lawyer having knowledge that another lawyer has committed a violation of the
Rules of Professional Conduct that raises a substantial question as to that
lawyer's honesty, trustworthiness or fitness as a lawyer in other respects, shall inform the appropriate professional
authority."
Incompetence At FEMA Runs Deep:
The Washington Post reports that "[f]ive of eight top Federal Emergency
Management Agency officials came to their posts with virtually no experience in handling disasters."
The top three officials -- Brown, Chief of Staff Patrick J. Rhode and Deputy
Chief of Staff Brooks D. Altshuler -- "arrived with ties to President
Bush's 2000 campaign or to the White House advance operation." Because of
high turnover in recent years, "nine of 10 regional directors are working
in an acting capacity." The result: "[E]xperts inside and out of
government said a 'brain drain' of experienced disaster hands throughout the
agency, hastened in part by the appointment of leaders without backgrounds in
emergency management, has weakened the agency's ability to respond to natural
disasters."
source: American Progress 090905
